In this episode of Nutrition Life Stories, I speak with Jon Cook, a fourth-generation dairy farmer from Swindon who’s passionate about connecting consumers with raw, unpasteurised milk and its health benefits.

Jon is a 4th generation dairy farmer outside Swindon producing and selling raw milk direct to the consumer.

Jon had an idyllic traditional upbringing on the farm, coming home from school for a home cooked lunch and helping on the farm. He grew up consuming raw milk fresh from the cows and he was never unwell as a youngster. He tried office work as his father stressed how hard farming is as a career, but he absolutely hated it and he returned to manage the farm when his father became ill.

Jon wanted to connect with the customer and sell milk directly from the farm. He was keen to sell raw milk (non pasteurised) at a time when there was little advice available to do so. Consequently, he set up an association for raw milk producers to help others navigate through the minefield and hurdles to licence and sell the milk. Jon explains the misconceptions about risks associated with raw milk.

To Jon, the health of his cows is paramount. His cows graze on grass (not cereals, a non-natural feed) except during the Winter months when they feed on hay and sileage in polytunnels! He milks just once a day and once tested, the milk is filtered to sell direct to consumers. Jon’s customers have seen tremendous health benefits by transitioning to raw milk.

Jon had his own health concerns five years ago, including diabetes and being chronically overweight. Following advice from a health practitioner he radically transformed his own eating habits, lost 5 stone, reversed his diabetes and now feels exceptionally well.

You can check out Doras Dairy here: https://www.dorasdairy.co.uk

In this episode of Nutrition Life Stories, I chat with Guy Ellis, an executive coach from Wiltshire whose 30-year journey to resolve digestive issues has transformed his relationship with food and health.

The bulk of his early career was spent in the corporate sector, often travelling the world and eating at superb restaurants. Guy grew up in Aukland, New Zealand and moved to the UK at 21.

This episode is a story of identifying the root cause of symptoms, being in tune and listen to your body and reconnecting with the joy of cooking and eating food.

Guy had a traditional upbringing in New Zealand and a traditional diet of dairy, meat, potatoes and fresh vegetables with an emphasis on good quality fresh food that had little exposure to pesticides. It was after moving to the UK in his early 20s that Guy started to experience digestive problems causing social embarrassment which he assumed was due to his busy lifestyle, poorer diet and alcohol consumption.

As the years went by, Guy just lived with the symptoms unable to identify why he struggled. Interestingly his son also started to experience (even worse) digestive problems that consultants failed to resolve, but at the time Guy failed to connect his son’s digestive symptoms with his own.

It took until Guy was in his 50s when he visited Jordan and ate a very varied Middle Eastern diet - often quite spicy, that he experienced no symptoms at all. The one thing missing from this diet was cow’s milk dairy! Guy had grown up consuming large amounts of dairy and loved dairy in all its forms: cheese, milk, yogurt so it formed a significant part of his diet. When Guy returned to the UK and back to his typical diet the symptoms returned with a vengeance. By cutting out all dairy and feeling the benefits, this enabled him to also help his son.

This was a 30 year journey and Guy mentioned the difficulty of trying to go it alone without guidance and support (from a practitioner). The positive result is that it has connected him with cooking and eating real unprocessed food. Now Guy loves to experiment in the kitchen and feels really in tune with his body.

Check out Guy Ellis here: https://www.guyellis.net

I was thrilled that Tom found the time to record this podcast and I know you will really enjoy Tom’s experiences and story.

Tom was a 4th generation baker with Hobbs House Bakery. He went on to film The Fabulous Baker Brothers for TV, baking bread around the world. Through his early career he discovered the joy of people coming together over food, cooking and eating together; but equally the negative impact when people are isolated, plus the concern over food waste.

Through Tom’s experiences and his connection with the social enterprise The Grace Network (whose vision is an economy that is self-supporting, providing resources to all who needed them), he was inspired to launch a new venture The Long Table at the Stroud hub, which is now expanding to Cirencester town centre in November 24.

The Long Table is on track to feed 40,000 people a year using mostly locally grown produce, providing employment and training for young people from more deprived backgrounds. What I love about the whole concept of The Long Table is providing nourishing fresh food, people pay what they can afford (however much or little) and uniting people from all aspects of life over food. The centre will also have a furniture bank, kids stuff (recycled clothes, toys and more).

To find out more and to become a Friend of The Long Table to support the valuable work that Tom and the team are doing please go to https://thelongtableonline.com/